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Royals crush Twins, move to 7-0

Apr 14, 2015 - 1:32 AM Minneapolis, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Lorenzo Cain had two RBI on his 29th birthday and the unbeaten Kansas City Royals topped Minnesota 12-3, spoiling the Twins' home opener.

Eric Hosmer and Alcides Escobar also knocked in two runs for the Royals, who, at 7-0, are two wins shy of matching the best start in team history. The 2003 squad opened with nine straight wins to set the mark.

"They're just a real confident group," said Kansas City manager Ned Yost. "Feel like they're capable of accomplishing great things."

Kansas City starter Danny Duffy (1-0) gave up three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Trevor Plouffe homered and Brian Dozier doubled twice and scored two runs for Minnesota, which has dropped six of seven to begin the 2015 season.

Trevor May (0-1) allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He replaced Ricky Nolasco in the Minnesota rotation after the right-hander landed on the 15-day disabled list with elbow inflammation.

The Royals scored six runs in the eighth to break open what had been a close contest.

With the bases loaded and no outs, J.R. Graham entered from the bullpen and drilled Alex Rios on the left hand with his first pitch to make it 6-3. Another run scored when shortstop Danny Santana bobbled a Salvador Perez grounder.

Escobar then plated a pair with a one-out single and Cain later forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk. Aaron Thompson relieved Graham, who retired only one of the six batters he faced, and gave up a sacrifice fly to Hosmer.

A first-inning single by Kennys Vargas drove in Dozier to give Minnesota an early lead.

Kansas City tied it on a second-inning home run by Kendrys Morales and grabbed a 2-1 lead in the third on a sac fly by Cain with the bases loaded.

Cain ripped a double to right field in the sixth and went to third on a throwing error by Torii Hunter. Mike Moustakas, who led off with a single, was able to score on the miscue. Hosmer followed with a double to score Cain and came home on a two-out single by Perez off reliever Tim Stauffer.

"(May) got us into the sixth and we were hoping to get him through that inning with just the 2-1 deficit, but we had to get him out of there to try to keep it close," said Minnesota manager Paul Molitor.

The Twins trimmed their deficit to 5-3 with a sac fly by Hunter in the sixth and a leadoff blast from Plouffe in the seventh.

Game Notes

Kansas City relievers Ryan Madson and Franklin Morales combined to allow only one hit over the final 2 2/3 innings ... The Royals bullpen has tossed 19 scoreless innings this season ... Minnesota has dropped its last four home openers.